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Many of us are familiar with the statistic that one in 31 hospital patients will contract a hospital-associated infection (HAI) and know that HAIs are the most frequent adverse events that happen in healthcare. We also know that practicing consistent hand hygiene (e.g., cleaning your hands) is the most important thing we can do to prevent HAIs in our patients and keep our teams safe from infection. 

We’ve likewise heard horrific stories about HAIs that left patients gravely ill for months, and even led to death. One particularly troubling case involves an infant who acquired three different infections when he came in for a relatively routine procedure. What was supposed to be a four-to-six-week stay turned into four months before he was well enough to go home. Another high profile case is Alicia Cole, a survivor of hospital-acquired sepsis, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and necrotizing fasciitis, who has shared her story widely to bring awareness to the life-threatening consequences of HAIs.

With knowledge of these facts and devastating patient stories, why do studies still show that some healthcare providers clean their hands less than half of the time they should? 

We can think of plenty of reasons that team members skip cleaning their hands — “I just cleaned my hands a short time ago,” “My hands were full,” or “I had gloves on.”

Whatever the reason, it takes just one instance of forgoing hand sanitizer or a soap and water wash to make a patient sick, or worse. And while UVA Medical Center is a leader among hospitals the world over, a critical area of opportunity is improving compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hand-hygiene guidelines: as recently as January, compliance was hovering at 70%. Today, we’re averaging closer to 80%, but the compliance rate for any hospital should consistently be above 90%.

Get Into the Habit!

With these incredibly high stakes and our commitment to patient safety, a new Medical Center campaign aims to raise awareness of the importance of proper hand hygiene and help team members get in the cleaning habit. 

In the coming weeks, team members will see new hand hygiene signage deployed throughout the Medical Center. Featuring a bold yet simple and clean design, the signs carry a variety of messages, but always the same call to action: Get into the habit. Among the messages, “Clean hands save lives,” reminds team members why hand hygiene is so important, while “Clean in, clean out,” highlights the standard of cleaning hands upon entry and exit of patient spaces. 

Members of the Infection Prevention and Control team will raise awareness and educate team members about best practices for hand hygiene with a traveling “Spin the Wheel” game. The wheel will be set up in the East Cafeteria on April 3, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will also visit units on April 5, 6, and 7. Team members can participate in an interactive hand hygiene quiz to receive prizes and a tip sheet on best practices.

Patients, too.

The campaign also seeks to engage patients in promoting hand hygiene and holding team members accountable. Signage that advises patients that it’s ok to ask care team members if they cleaned their hands will be installed in patient rooms and in other areas of the Medical Center.

Extension of a Broader Effort

The “Get Into the Habit” campaign is an extension of a larger strategic initiative that has been in progress for several months, led by the Hand Hygiene Coalition and the Infection Prevention and Control team. This includes requiring all inpatient units and departments with team members who touch items that will be used by/on patients to develop hand-hygiene action plans, increased unit-based compliance monitoring and reporting, identifying unit/department hand hygiene champions, and weekly updates at the Mid-Morning Huddle. 

How Can Team Members Support? 

It’s simple: get into the habit! Review the CDC guidelines, myths and facts, and other tips here, and commit to making hand hygiene a habit — every time, all the time. You can also help by:

• Praising team members you see practicing good hand hygiene;
• Kindly reminding colleagues when you see a missed hygiene opportunity; and 
• Thanking patients for actively participating in their care and supporting our safety efforts when they ask you if you’ve cleaned your hands.

“Everyone at UVA Health is driven by a deep desire to care for people. We know that clean hands save lives, so one of the simplest ways we can care for our patients is by keeping our hands clean,” said Costi Sifri, MD, director of epidemiology and infection prevention and control for the Medical Center. “We’ve made encouraging strides in our hand hygiene compliance rates recently and know that we can achieve and maintain our 90% goal. For the sake of our patients, we must.”